By Jes Tirol
Sundry Column, Bohol Chronicle
Proem
The term K-12 refers to 12-years of basic education before entering college. President
Noynoy Aquino or P-Noy announced during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that he favors the K-12 system of education. Our present educational system consists of 6-years elementary and 4-years high school or K-10.
The Philippines is one of the two countries in the world with K-10 education. Most countries are K-12 and a few are K-11.
Basing upon your experience, is there really a need for K-12? Do you think you are less educated because you only had K-10?
My Experience
I studied Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in college (BSCE). The Philippines is the only country in the world that requires five (5) years to finish any Bachelor in Engineering degree. All other countries require only four (4) years.
I studied Masters in Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. The student population was international. Do you think the Filipinos, with five years in engineering were superior to the students coming from other countries? The answer is a big NO! In fact we were very far behind.
The reason is that the 4-year engineering curriculum from other countries contained only engineering subjects. In the Philippines, the 5-year curriculum consists of two (2) years cultural subjects and only three (3) years in engineering subjects. So the Filipinos are actually one year behind.
Our classmates from other countries always asked us, "What took you too long to study too little?" We told them that we studied social science, history, Filipino, political science, etc. It totaled 72 units (now reduced to 54 units) or 24 three (3) units subjects. All of our foreign classmates were aghast of the waste of time and effort.
They then asked, "So what lessons did you study in high school?" We answered that we also studied the same subjects in high school. Our foreign classmates encountered these subjects in high school and no longer repeated in college. In college they only studied the professional subjects.
You can now see why our 5-year engineering curricula are no match to the 4-year curricula in other countries.
We Have No Depth
In our educational system we study Filipino and English from Grade 1 to college. Many lessons in the elementary are repeated in high school and then repeated in college.
For example, in the First Year High School today, the mathematics lessons are a little of everything. The curriculum consists of a little arithmetic, a little geometry, a little statistics, and a little algebra. If a student stops, he ends up with learning nothing at all. When I looked at the Fourth Year High School mathematics, the same subjects were repeated but with addition of some trigonometry and analytic geometry. The student will graduate in High School without mastering any mathematics but everything is partial in form and content.
When I investigated further the High School Curricular format, I found out that it is good. It is only the actual implementation by DepEd that leaves plenty of things to be desired.
I told the Principal Teacher in UB Loon Institute, where I am now the President, that we will not follow the recommended DepEd way of implementation. We should strive for depth and not breath. If we teach algebra in the First Year, it should be all algebra and teach it completely. If the student will stop, at least he already knows how to use algebra. When we teach geometry, it should be all geometry and completed, and so on.
A Sad Encounter
A few days ago I encountered an engineering professor studying a Grade IV arithmetic book. I thought he was studying to help his child studying at the VDT Advanced Learning Center. It turned out that he was teaching mathematics for Second Year Bachelor of Science in Commerce. The required teaching syllabus in college is the same as the Grade IV arithmetic at VDT.
I told the professor, why are you teaching them Grade IV arithmetic? Why not teach them Trachtenberg Arithmetic? It is very useful in business courses. He replied, my students could hardly understand these kind of arithmetic, how much more the Trachtenberg Arithmetic. Oh, what a sad state is our educational system in!
Comment
If the additional two (2) years in basic education is just a repetition of the present situation, it will end up as useless. Increasing the number of years is not the priority but the total change of the way the subjects are taught. The emphasis should be in depth and not the fragmentation of the subject. Our 5-year Engineering curricula do not produce better engineers than the 4-year curricula in other countries.
Would a lawyer today agree that he will be taught the Civil Code from Articles 1 to 50 in the First Semester, then Articles 51 to 150 in the Second Semester, then Articles 151 to 200 in the First Semester in the Second Year and so on until Fourth Year? How about doing it also for the Criminal Code? I am sure the lawyer would not agree.
Believe it or not, that is how mathematics, science, English, Filipino, etc. are being taught from Elementary to High School and College. Everything is partially taught!
Nothing is mastered by the students because by the time he reaches 4th year he already forgot what the starting lesson was four years ago or even ten years ago.
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